


Expendable

by ThereIsNoHeterosexualExplanationForThis



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Getting Together, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, My first fic so be nice I am sensitive, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not Beta Read, Post-Season/Series 02, Spanish speaking written by someone who doesn't speak Spanish, We die like men there are typos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2020-07-11 04:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19920289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoHeterosexualExplanationForThis/pseuds/ThereIsNoHeterosexualExplanationForThis
Summary: Bart doesn’t know why he’s surprised. Jaime has been avoiding him since they prevented the Reach apocalypse. He tries not to be hurt by it, but knowing he was nothing more to Jaime than a guarantee that Blue Beetle wouldn’t become the big bad was hard to swallow. So, Bart did what Bart does best: run away from his problems and pretend they don’t exist.He didn't run fast enough.





	1. Chapter 1

Bart Allen has never been good at waiting. No, scratch that, he has never liked waiting. He waited to come to the past, he waited for the perfect plan to get Jaime Reyes off mode, and he is still waiting to reveal that maybe his loyalty for said Blue Beetle isn’t as friendly or brotherly as it should be. All times of waiting where Bart has excelled. Here, though, where Bart waits in the rafters of a LexCorp warehouse, it feels like it takes everything in him to remain in the silent stillness.

Bart sighed quietly. The Team had gathered intelligence that The Light would have some low-level members meeting at this very warehouse, and it was Alpha that was in charge of the takedown with Beta on standby for any complications. At first, the idea of being on Alpha was so exciting that Bart thought he could vibrate out of his skin. That was before he realized Jaime was being put on a different team.

Bart doesn’t know why he’s surprised. Jaime has been avoiding him since they prevented the Reach apocalypse. He tries not to be hurt by it, but knowing he was nothing more to Jaime than a guarantee that Blue Beetle wouldn’t become _the_ big bad was hard to swallow. So, Bart did what Bart does best: run away from his problems and pretend they don’t exist. As far as he was concerned, it was working well enough.

“Alpha, report,” Nightwing called through their comms.

“Robin is go. Watchtower is picking up 12 vans coming from the south and headed this way. ETA 6 minutes. I’m ready to send the signal. Robin out.”

“Superboy is go. Waiting for the signal and will proceed to hinder and subdue. Superboy out.”

Bart switched on his comm, “Kid Flash is go. Bored but ready to speed punch. Waiting is so dull. Kid Flash out.”

A huff of air came from Nightwing’s end of the line. Bart couldn’t tell if it was an exasperated sigh or an amused chuckle. Could be either or. “Beta, report.”

“Blue Beetle is go.” Bart felt a pang deep in his chest, hearing Jaime’s voice. It feels foreign in his ears. “On standby until further notice. Blue Beetle out.”

Bart is vaguely aware of Guardian and Batgirl’s murmured responses that sounded basically identical to Blue’s but he was preoccupied with not thinking about Blue under any circumstance. It could have only ended poorly, coming to the past and falling in love with the one person who he shouldn’t have.

Realizing his train of not so nice thought, Bart shook his head.  _ Get back into character,  _ he repeated to himself. The hyperactive and goofy speedster persona fit him better than any uniform or piece of clothing has ever done. Sometimes, Bart wonders if this is actually who he is and just wasn’t allowed to be, but he shuts that thought down before it gets too far. Finding out who you were was for regular teenagers, not something for him.

“Vans have arrived and we have about 34 warm bodies headed this way,” Robin whispers into the comms, startling Bart out of his thoughts. “Wait for positive identification, wait for the signal, then go.”

Bart grinned when he recognized he was targeted by that last part. He caught Robin’s eyes from across the rafters and gave him a shrug that said  _ what can you do?  _ in the most innocent way Bart could manage. It didn’t work too well because he could see Robin give a silent snort at his antics before focusing up. Bart followed suit, looking towards where people entered the warehouse.

_ Oh no,  _ Bart thought as he watched some not so low-level members of The Light walked in. Members including Blockbuster, Klarion, and Sportsmaster with a bunch of muscle. What could these three possibly be meeting for?

One look at Robin’s clenched jaw and Bart knew mission parameters changed.

_ We sit and listen. Do not do anything.  _ Robin signed at Bart in ASL.

Bart gave a thumbs up and looked down on the villains to listen.

Klarion’s high pitched whine of a voice cut through everything. “Are you sure it works?”

“Of course it works,” Sportsmaster’s face was hidden by the mask, but his eyes were still unreadable. “If you hold up your end, my part will do fine.”

Blockbuster bared his teeth in what looked like a sorry excuse for a smile. Klarion and Sportsmaster seemed to accept this as some sign of confirmation because they moved on.

“We should get into the specifics of…” Sportsmaster started but was interrupted.

“Up, up, up, careful Sportsy. You should watch what you say in front of the children.” Klarion said with an evil grin, eyes blazing a dangerous red.

“Fuck.” Said Nightwing.

“Shit.” Said Robin

“That didn’t sound like the signal.” Said Bart.

“Alpha, go!” Nightwing yelled, sounded amazingly calm and collected in the face of the team being outed. It must be a bat thing because Robin is immediately jumping into the fray, aiming a flying kick towards Sportsmaster.

Bart doesn’t look to see if it connected, the sound of bone crunching acting enough as verification. He excitedly snaps on his goggles. This is what he was waiting for. In the time it would take a normal person to blink, Kid Flash was zooming towards the fight.

Hoping to thin the herd, Kid Flash rushed through the normal hired muscle, knocking them out and disarming them. Easy money. Or, it was until Superboy came crashing into him, having been thrown by Blockbuster, pushing them across the floor.

Kid Flash shoved Superboy’s weight off him. Superboy wasn’t unconscious, but he was pretty dazed, forcing himself to his feet and back towards Blockbuster with a blank look.

“Robin!” Kid Flash yelled out, hoping he would hear him. “This really doesn’t seem like a fair fight!”

“I read you Kid Flash. Beta, you have the go-ahead. Priority is to subdue.” Nightwing calls from the comm.

Kid Flash only just hears the replies of Beta when he breaks the sound barrier. He sees Robin shielding Superboy’s ears with earplugs specifically made for him in these situations. The bad guys were not so shielded.

Kid Flash couldn’t hear it, he was going faster than sound, but he could see the hired guns that were left clutching their heads, blood coming out of some ears. Kid Flash grins and keeps running.

When Kid Flash looks up from the damage he caused, his breath catches. Blue Beetle looks, for lack of a better word, elegant. He had just broken through a window to get in, dropping Batgirl into the fight, Guardian flying in behind them in the supercycle. Jaime Reyes was surrounded by crystals, his wings spread wide, blue armor glinting, and Bart Allen had never seen something so beautiful in his life. If he abuses his speed and uses it to just  _ look  _ at Jaime for a few seconds, then no one but him will know.

Kid Flash screeched to a halt in the perimeter of the battle, pleased with what he saw. Robin and Batgirl had the upper hand in combat with Sportsmaster, Superboy was with Guardian who was using the cycle to secure an unconscious Blockbuster, and the goons Kid Flash had taken out earlier were still down. Like he always does (and might always do), Kid Flash searches out Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle has his feet planted in the ground, a sonic cannon out and pointed at Klarion but there seems to be no effect. Kid Flash speeds closer to listen on the conversation but far enough to avoid getting in the way.

“Mmm, you know, I am a Lord of Chaos, and I can see all that chaos in your head.” Klarion taunts with an amused grin once Blue lowers his cannon and goes for a different approach.

The sound of blades being released accompanied Blue’s face growing into a snarl. Kid Flash almost takes a step back in surprise. Blue Beetle is using his blades in sharp, brutal motions, a level of violence uncharacteristic for him.

Klarion just cackles. “You were a fun playmate. Wish we could do this again.”

Then, to Bart’s horror, Klarion’s hand seemed to release a bolt of lightning, headed straight for Jaime. Out of instinct, Bart screamed a warning, but he was already running as fast as his feet could take him.

It was like a scene straight out of his nightmares. His legs felt as if he was dragging them through quicksand. He was running much faster than anyone else could possibly go, but he felt slow and weighed down. What was less than a second felt like hours to Bart.  _ Not going to make it, not going to make it, not going to make it,  _ Bart’s head screamed at him. The lightning bolt was almost touching Jaime’s chest, he had to go  _ faster. _

After one final burst of speed, Kid Flash slid to a stop, his shoulder aching from where he hit Jaime to get out of the way. Peering at where Jaime had skidded after impact, he appeared fine but was staring at Bart with eyes wide and jaw slack.

Bart tried cracking a joke, maybe say long time no see, maybe tell Jaime to be careful because he couldn’t lose him, or maybe just laugh because Jaime was  _ safe.  _ It didn’t work out as well as he planned. Taking a breath before speaking alerted him to one of the sharpest pains he’d felt in his life lance through his gut. High on adrenaline, he curiously looked down at himself.  _ Oh.  _ Jaime’s expression made sense.

Red that was definitely not apart of the costume design spread up from his gut across his abdomen. Looking at it hurt more than actually feeling it, so Bart turned his face back towards Jaime.

“Oh.” This time, Bart said it out loud, right before his knees buckled and he was falling. 

He expected the hard floor of the warehouse but was met with the strong arms encased in blue armor. Blue gently maneuvered him down to the ground so he could lie on his back. Before Bart could protest the loss of the contact when Blue pulled his arms away, Jaime’s hands were pressing on the wound, hard.

And all Bart could feel was  _ pain pain pain pain pain pain  _ and then darkness.

\- - -

Bart came to an undetermined amount of time later. The memory of pain throbbed through him but everything felt dull. His body’s response was slow, something that it wasn’t usually occurring. Spreading his conscious out farther than his own body, he didn’t have to go far before he got to Jaime’s face. The blue armor was retracted down to his neck. Bart remembers pain and darkness so he doesn’t let himself feel bad when he spares time to let his eyes travel down Jaime’s body. They followed his broad shoulders, solid chest, the defined muscles of his abdomen that the armor clung to. They also followed down his strong arms towards his calloused and careful hands that were pressed into Bart’s guts and oh god.

Robin was there, just past Jaime, saying something. “Gave him something for the pain. Won’t last long on a metabolism like that, but let’s hope it lasts until medevac gets here.”

Jaime almost seemed to not hear him, entirely focused on Bart.

“Jaime…” Bart tried speaking. His mouth was dry and getting enough breath to speak was getting hard.

Jaime looked startled. “Bart! Don’t try to speak. Medevac is on its way and everything is going to be okay.”

Bart smiled at Jaime through the blood in his mouth. Despite the pain creeping back into his senses, Bart couldn’t help feeling relieved to talk to Jaime again. He tries to wet his mouth and speak. “Jaime.”

“Bart, seriously shut up for once in your life.” Jaime seemed seconds away from a panic attack.

“Calm down her-man-o,” Bart muttered in his terrible Spanish accent.

Jaime didn’t rise to the bait Bart thought he would, instead zeroing in on the first half of the sentence. “‘Calm down?’ I can’t actually tell if you’re serious. You took a hit for me!”

The speedster still had a grin on his face when he replied. “The armor is susceptible to magic. I did what I had to.”

Jaime, the calm one of the duo, the one to temper the hurricane that was Bart Allen, exploded. “That is such bullshit! You should have let me take the hit! You should have run in the opposite direction! Now you’re hurt and it’s my fault.”

“Blue,” Bart wheezed out, “couldn’t let you get hurt. Makes sense. Healing factor. It might not save me this time, but better me than you.”

“How could you say that?” Jaime’s anger snapped at him, all red and aggressive.

Bart felt cold, felt pain seeping back into his body, felt  _ good _ because Jaime was  _ safe _ , felt himself dying, so he reached his hand out and placed it on Jaime’s face. The effort it took was as close to damning as it could get but Bart relished the contact, ignoring the regret that his hand was gloved. His thumb traced high cheekbone.

“I’m sorry.” Bart still couldn’t bring himself to tell Jaime. Tell Jaime he was so important, tell Jaime how happy he made Bart, tell Jaime he loves him. In the end, he was okay with it. He saved him.

Bart was so tired, so done with the pain. So, he let himself drift off, the screams of his teammates in his ears.

\- - -

Bart dreamt. Bart dreamt of ash, of collars, of  _ meat _ , of escape. Bart dreamt of a family lost, of family gained, the speed force. Bart dreamt of tilted Spanish words, of homemade tamales, of the face behind the armor, of chocolate eyes and chicken wizzies. Bart dreamt of the tug of consciousness and he followed.

\- - -

Bart came to in what looked like a hospital room. Several IV bags hung from a line and an oxygen cannula rested in his nose. There were flowers stacked by his bedside, no doubt from the team. Also by his bedside was a chair containing one sleeping Barry Allen.

The corner of Bart’s mouth tilted up. Barry was contorted to fit his body into a comfortable sleeping position while sitting in a hospital chair, his face smashed into his hand and drool dribbling down his chin. The small rays of light filtering through a small window illuminated Barry’s face and managed to make him look years younger than the mask has aged him.

Bart didn’t want to, but the dryness of his mouth demanded attention so he attempted to wake Barry up.

“Barry,” His voice croaked out, neglected and unused. “Gramps, wake up.”

In an instant, Barry startled and his eyes landed on Bart. The speedsters stared at each other for a few seconds, impressive especially for them.

“You’re awake,” Barry stated, managing to sound deadpan and bewildered.

Bart grinned, the muscles in his face protesting the whole time. “I could be sleepwalking and sleep talking. I would say sleep thinking but that doesn’t even happen when I’m awake.”

Barry kept staring, an act that made Bart shift uncomfortably. The look was long and drawn out, unblinking with uncharacteristic seriousness and intensity. “We weren’t sure you were gonna wake up.”

Bart’s smile slid off his face. “How long have I been out?”

“Bart, it’s been three weeks.”

All the breath in his lungs rushes out at once. Three weeks is a long time to have a teammate, a friend, family injured.

“Um,” Bart spoke hesitantly. “Is Jaime okay?”

Barry looked at him curiously. “Depends on what you mean. Uninjured but kind of a mess about you taking a shot for him. Want to talk about it?”

Bart shifted. “Nothing to talk about. A teammate was in trouble. I would have done it for anyone.”

“No.” Barry shook his head. “This is different.”

When he didn’t elaborate, Bart fidgeted but insisted, “I would have done it for anyone.”

“I believe you would. I also believe that this is different nonetheless.”

The silence was telling. Bart resented it but not enough to break it with an even more telling lie or worse, a truth.

Barry sighed. “Bart, you died. Your heart stopped for six minutes. Superboy and Wonder Girl had to hold Blue Beetle back form killing members of The Light. This is different.”

“He killed you in the future.”

Barry’s head shot up. He expected Bart to have tears in his eyes, a tremble in his limbs, to look young and small. Bart’s eyes were hard. His hands steady, and looked far too old to be a teenager.

“What?” Barry wheezed out.

“The Blue Beetle of my future killed my parents, killed you, killed Wally. He killed most of my teammates, your teammates, my friends of this time. He was my mission.” Bart’s voice didn’t shake. “He is the reason I came to the past. He was my mission and after the thwarted Reach invasion, my mission is complete.”

“He wasn’t just your mission.”

“No,” Bart whispered. “He was my friend. And I was the one stupid enough to fall in love with him.”

Though Barry suspected, he was shocked at the admittance. The older speedster put shaking hands onto delicate shoulders and pulled his grandson into a tight hug. Dampness appeared on his chest but he pretended he didn’t see it.

“You stopped him. You succeeded. The Blue Beetle will not use Jaime Reyes to take over the earth. This one is all yours.”

Bart shook his head from where Barry was cradling it to his chest. “This isn’t about what the Blue Beetle did in my future, that wasn’t Jaime Reyes. I was just proof that the Reach wouldn’t mode him. After they left Earth for good, Jaime pulled away. He stopped offering to hang out, requested a partner change, and altogether started to avoid me. I got the message. He isn’t into me or even friends with me and I can take that. I can take that.”

Barry pulled away with disbelief in his features. “Are actually trying to tell me that Jaime doesn’t feel the same for you?”

“He doesn’t. He wouldn’t act like this otherwise.” The words spilling out of his mouth were bitter and hurt but resigned.

“Jaime is in the waiting room right now.”

Bart blanched. “What?”

“The team has insisted on keeping someone in the waiting room at all times. There was a shift schedule and everything. Jaime has spent every free minute here, which to be honest has been almost 24/7.”

“It’s the guilt. I took a hit for him. It doesn’t mean anything else.” Bart dismissed.

Barry shot up with his superspeed. “That’s it. I’m telling him you’re awake. You need to hear it from him.”

Bart made a move to stop him but he flinched and grabbed his abdomen. Barry took the opportunity to speed away. He was back before a regular person would have noticed he was gone but Bart knew.

Barry smirked down at him just as the door burst open.

To say Jaime looked like shit was an understatement. Bags hung heavy under his eyes, his usual warm complexion was washed out, and his hair was suspiciously greasy. He merely stood at the door, staring at Bart with wide eyes.

“You’re awake,” Jaime’s disused voice croaks out.

Barry sent his grandson one more significant look before he sped out the door.

Bart fidgeted on the hospital bed under Jaime’s gaze. He plastered a big grin on his face. “Told you! Healing factor? The best.”

“Bart.” His name almost sounded like a strangled whimper. Jaime came to Bart’s bedside with a speed that even impressed the speedster. It dimmed his smile. “You were dead. You took a hit for me.”

Bart took a sudden interest in his fingernails. They have been cutting them the last few weeks he has been out. “Yep.” He said noncommittedly.

Suddenly, Bart was engulfed by a teenage Hispanic superhero. Strong hands gripped him firmly but gently. It took a few seconds slowly reciprocated, wrapping his arms around broad shoulders. Bart committed the moment to memory.

“You are not expendable.”

Bart almost missed it, the words being said into where Jaime has tucked his face into Bart’s hair. “More expendable than you.”

Just like Bart expected, Jaime ripped himself out of the embrace. Unlike what Bart expected, Jaime bared his teeth at him. “ _ No _ . You don’t seem to understand.  _ You are not expendable _ .”

Bart blew out a breath of air. “I’m alive. If I let that magic hit you, would we have been able to say the same thing about you?”

“It doesn’t matter! Don’t ever trade your life for mine, you have to promise me. Never again.”

“I can’t do that.”

Jamie was on his feet in an instant, making himself bigger and taking up more space. “You have to!”

“No.” Bart was now glaring defiantly at Jaime.

“Please.” Jaime’s voice was softer now. “Your life is worth billions of mine.”

Something inside Bart broke. His laugh was dark and rasping. “Yeah, right. That’s why you’ve been avoiding me and requested a partner change.”

“I promise it’s not what you think.”

“Oh, yeah? You wanna know what I think? I think that after the Reach invasion was stopped, you no longer needed me. You no longer needed insurance that being a supervillain would be in your future.”

Jaime wrung a frustrated hand through his hair. “That’s not it at all! Dios mío, what the hell is actually the matter with you? How could you possibly not know? I distanced myself from you because I felt so guilty! When I was on mode I saw what your future might have looked like, what I might have done. What I  _ did  _ do in your timeline. How could I make you look at me? I couldn’t put you through that.”

“What, so you made me separate from my best friend? News for you asshat: you aren’t him. If you were him do you think I would fall in love with…” Bart stopped abruptly, his brain finally catching up to his mouth.

All of the anger drained out of the room immediately. It left both boys breathing hard and with equally surprised faces.

“Well, shit.” Bart was immediately pushing off the covers, ready to make his great escape to somewhere very far away from this conversation. That’s all it took for Jaime to lunge at him.

“Bart, stop moving. Your healing factor worked like a charm but you still have to be careful.” Blue armor ran down his arms, helping to keep Bart in the hospital bed. “Idiota, just hold on a few minutes, Jesus.”

Bart’s eyes were large and startled but he stopped fighting against him.

“You hate mayonnaise but you don’t tell your family because they use it so much in cooking and you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Your favorite place is the desert at night because of how still it is and how still you don’t have to be. Sometimes you go running somewhere cold just so you can play in the snow. Your favorite food is pancakes. Around children, you somehow manage to be the most patient person on this planet. Reality television is your guilty pleasure because it is fake enough to not be boring and real enough to be interesting. You’re a cat person. True to your name, you are the most impulsive person on this planet and Dios bueno I love you so much. I love everything I know about you, everything I will know about you, and everything I will never know about you. I love everything I will forget about you and everything I remember. So you know what? Your life is worth way more than mine, especially to me.”

Bart is small and injured and probably crying at this point but that doesn’t stop him from dragging Jaime down so he can press their lips together.

It was slow, just the drag of lips against lips, salty due to Bart’s tears. Jaime braced himself over Bart, trying to avoid smothering him only to be combated by Bart himself pulling Jaime towards him by his shirt. There wasn’t gasping for breath, just a gradual end to the moment of intimacy. Jaime rested his forehead against the smaller boy’s.

“Do you finally get it?”

Bart placed a gloveless hand on a high cheekbone, reveling in the skin on skin contact. “Yeah. I think I might.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaime's point of view

Jaime Reyes was a lot of things. Hispanic and proud, a teenager, Blue Beetle, bilingual, hard-working, loyal, mature beyond his years. More than all of that, he was guilty.

Bartholomew Allen was also a lot of things. Impulsive, unapologetic, too fast for his own good, beautiful, and from a timeline where Jaime had enslaved the world. Bart was deceptively secretive with the future they got rid of but Jaime can make a few guesses. How he looked at his family with awe instead of familiarity was more telling than anything that Bart had ever said. Maybe it wasn’t actually Jaime’s fault, but it was Blue Beetle’s fault and they were one and the same as far as some people were concerned. One of those people was Bart.

Before the Reach invasion, Bart had always been curious. Curious about Jaime’s likes and dislikes, curious about Khaji Da, curious about their partnership. Jaime reveled in the attention. Too bad it was out of fear and duty instead of actual interest.

Jaime saw how Bart was flighty around him, constantly by his side, eyes wide with awareness when he makes a mistake. Blue Beetle ruined his life. Jaime ruined his life. So, Jaime let him go.

Aqualad looked concerned about his choice to switch partners but he didn’t ask any questions. Jaime was grateful. Avoiding Bart proved to be a much harder task to accomplish. At this point, he was ingrained into Jaime’s life. After missions, on weekends, just hanging around the watchtower, these occurrences disappeared. Even the sight of Bart made Jaime bolt in the other direction with a poor excuse on the tip of his tongue. He never stuck around to see Bart’s face.

\- - -

“Kid Flash is go. Bored but ready to speed punch. Waiting is so dull. Kid Flash out.”

Jaime tenses at Bart’s voice from where he was hidden on top of the warehouse. He misses the cheerful but impatient voice being aimed at him accompanied by a bright smile.

“Beta, report,” Nightwing’s voice ordered.

“Blue Beetle is go.” Jaime shook himself. “On standby until further notice. Blue Beetle out.”

His teammates responded with succinct responses that mirrored his, all of them in their own headspace before the mission.

_ You are distracted, Jaime Reyes,  _ Khaji Da stated.  _ This increases the likelihood of a mistake. _

“Shut up, I know that. You don’t have to tell me.”

The scarab made a dissatisfied noise in the back of his mind but didn’t say anymore.

Jaime’s attention returned to the mission when he heard the sound of tires on a beat-up road.

“Vans have arrived and we have about 34 warm bodies headed this way,” Robin whispers into the comms. “Wait for positive identification, wait for the signal, then go.” 

Batgirl and Guardian looked at him with a nod and got into their positions. Guardian hopped on the softly purring supercycle and Batgirl came to stand beside Jaime.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Always.”

She grinned at him, seemingly unable to detect the uneasiness he was feeling. They sat in silence, ready, but Jaime desperately hoped they wouldn’t be called in. If Beta was called in that means there was trouble. The comms were only silent for a few minutes.

“Fuck.” Said Nightwing.

“Shit.” Said Robin

“That didn’t sound like the signal.” Said Bart.

Despite his rising panic, Jaime had to hold back a snort.

“Alpha, go!” Nightwing yelled.

Sound burst through the commlink, hits landing and people going down. Every muscle in Jaime’s body was pulled tight in anticipation.

“Robin!” Kid Flash yelled in his ear. “This really doesn’t seem like a fair fight!”

“I read you Kid Flash. Beta, you have the go-ahead. Priority is to subdue.” Nightwing calls from the comm.

Blue Beetle grabbed Batgirl’s forearms and lept over the side of the building. He maneuvered them so the armor took the impact of breaking through a window before he dropped Batgirl into the battle.

Klarion’s evil laugh broke out over and fighting Jaime heard. Well, that wasn’t a low-level member. Jaime zeroed in on him.

Klarion smirked at his approach. “Gonna squash this bug.”

“Dude, so unoriginal.” His sonic cannon grew out of his arm. The cannon was aimed directly at Klarion but seemed to have no effect. He hoped Kid Flash was doing better than this.

“Mmm, you know, I am a Lord of Chaos, and I can see all that chaos in your head.” Klarion taunts with an amused grin once Blue lowers his cannon.

Blades came out of the armor before Jaime could even think. Anger seared his veins, fueled by the discomfort of an enemy seeing so clearly through him. His whole body was on autopilot, a sneer on his face, violent and damaging movements. Klarion dodged them anyway.

Klarion cackles. “You were a fun playmate. Wish we could do this again.”

Then, lightning filled his vision. He barely has time to think about Bart and his family. His mamá and Milagro were gonna be heartbroken. He hopes they will be okay.

In one swoop his feet were knocked out from under him while the breath left his lungs. Instinctively, he ducked and rolled. His ears were ringing, his vision was blurry, and Klarion had seemingly disappeared from the scene. He could barely make out what he was seeing before him.  _ Dios mío. _

A red stain grew across Bart’s uniform, small at first but then growing in size.  _ He pushed Jaime out of the way, how could he? _

When Bart glanced at Jaime’s face he looked down at himself. With large and surprised eyes he looks back up. “Oh.”

Bart’s legs gave out and Jaime was already there, ready to catch him. As he lowered him softly to the ground, the wound was spilling blood. Jaime had to stop any more blood loss. With steady hands after years of combat, Jaime pressed into the wound with both hands. Instead of a scream, he was met with eyes rolling back and unconsciousness. Jaime was almost glad he wouldn’t have to feel this.

“Kid Flash is down, critical status. We need medevac ASAP.” Robin said into his comm, sprinting over. He slid to a halt beside the bloody mess. His fingers were rifling through the belt around his waist. Less than a moment later Robin held in his hand a syringe full of a clear substance. Jaime bit back a growl when he pushed the liquid into Bart’s bloodstream.

“Gave him something for the pain. Won’t last long on a metabolism like that, but let’s hope it lasts until medevac gets here.”

Blood still pulsed beneath his hands despite the pressure he was putting on it. It beat a heartbeat too slow for a speedster against his fingers.

“Jaime…” The voice was small.

Jaime’s eyes snapped to the boy underneath him. “Bart! Don’t try to speak. Medevac is on its way and everything is going to be okay.”

Bart’s usually white and sunny smile was splashed with blood. “Jaime.”

“Bart, seriously shut up for once in your life.”

“Calm down her-man-o,” Bart muttered. 

Jaime almost sobbed at the familiarly bad Spanish and the complete lack of regard for his own safety. “‘Calm down?’ I can’t actually tell if you’re serious. You took a hit for me!”

Barti didn’t stop smiling. “The armor is susceptible to magic. I did what I had to.”

Jaime imagined that if he had superpowers outside of the armor, something like Miss Martian or Aqualad, that everything within miles of him would be flattened or destroyed. “That is such bullshit! You should have let me take the hit! You should have run in the opposite direction! Now you’re hurt and it’s my fault.”

“Blue,” Bart wheezed out, “couldn’t let you get hurt. Makes sense. Healing factor. It might not save me this time, but better me than you.”

“How could you say that?” 

To his surprise, Bart lifted a hand up and put it on his face. “I’m sorry.”

“Bart, don’t apologize just stay awake. Bart? Bart!”

Bart’s head lolled to the side as his eyes became half-lidded.

The noise out of Jaime’s mouth was animilistic in his panic but he didn’t move from where he. Robin was suddenly by his side, checking Bart’s pulse. Without a word Robin starts pumping Bart’s chest. Jaime watched numbly. Bart wasn’t breathing. He didn’t have a pulse.

Jaime turned away to see the rest of the team looking on in varying degrees of shock and horror. Batgirl soon swooped in to take over compressions so Robin could pull more syringes and injections out of nowhere.

“He’s been without a heartbeat for too long,” Robin whispers.

_ 4 minutes and 37 seconds _ Khaji Da whispers. It startles Jaime because of how quiet the scarab has been.

“4 minutes and 37 seconds,” Jaime repeats numbly.

The bats glanced at him but looked down again.

It took almost two more minutes until his heart beat again. It took three more until some team of medics that have been cleared by Batman rushed in. They pushed him away from Bart’s vulnerable body and for some reason he let them.

He went to sit among the rest of his teammates who weren’t talking, only standing. Batgirl and Robin both haven’t cleaned their hands of Bart’s blood. Jaime hasn’t either. 

“We should head to the Zeta tube.” Mal’s voice cracked.

The others started heading to the Supercycle. Jaime followed their path and saw a tied up Sportsmaster and Blockbuster. They weren’t the ones who did it but they were the reason the team was here. Without them, Bart would have been safe.

His blades were out in an instant. His most violent weapon, poised at the ready. They took Bart from him. 

The next thing he knew, Superboy was holding his arms behind him and Batgirl was in front of him.

“Jaime, stop! Bart wouldn’t want this,” Batgirl commanded.

“They hurt him. He died. His heart didn’t beat for 6 minutes and 14 seconds.”

“But he’s alive now and when he wakes up, you want to be able to look him in the eye.”

Superboy grunted in the effort it took to hold Jaime and for a second he was pleased to see how uneasy the power he held made others. That feeling was gone in an instant, replaced with disgust. Bart was a victim of these powers. He wouldn’t be like the Blue Beetle of Bart’s timeline. The weapons retracted back into his armor with a sharp metal noise, contrasting with the absolute silence Khaji Da had held for so long.

He flew beside the others to the nearest Zeta tube and resolutely did not look near the villains.

\- - -

The team’s response would have been heartening if Jaime was anyone else. They pulled together a shift schedule to keep an eye on Bart, they helped his family. Most of all, they treated Jaime like he was the most important thing in Bart’s life. He wanted to cry and tell them of how Bart could never feel that way. Jaime was the monster that took everything from him. Still, he didn’t cry. The numbness he felt was all-encompassing.

This somehow didn’t stop Jaime from sitting in the waiting room, day in and day out. His teammates joined him more often than not, handing him food, sometimes forcing him to shower. He does all of this on autopilot. Khaji Da is silent the whole time.

Bart doesn’t wake up.

Three weeks in and Barry was sitting in with Bart. The doctors said that even with his healing factor, they weren’t sure if he would wake up. Someone from his family sat in with Bart constantly. They’ve invited Jaime to come in but he declines every time. Jaime can’t stand to look at Bart’s unconscious body.

Jaime puts his head into his hands. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he could have stopped the speedster or avoided it but anger still bubbled in him. Bart took a hit for him.

“Jaime!” Barry’s voice, unusually chipper, called out to him. “He’s up!”

Jaime was in motion before the words caught up to his mind. He threw the door to Bart’s room and sure enough, he was sitting up, looking confused but alive. The sight was so beautiful that Jaime thought he could stare at it forever from the doorway. 

“You’re awake,” He finally says. He hadn’t spoken for most of the three weeks and you could tell.

“Told you! Healing factor? The best.” Bart squirmed but grinned wildly.

“Bart. You were dead. You took a hit for me.”

Bart’s eyes flicked away from Jaime’s. “Yep.”

Not being able to help himself, Jaime flung himself at Bart. The boy was much smaller in stature, allowing Jaime to wrap his arms around Bart to hug him with ease. He fitted just right. Jaime tucked his face into the embrace. The warmth of the hug rushed through him and multiplied when Bart returned it.

“You are not expendable,” Jaime whispers.

“More expendable than you,” Bart whispers back, just as quiet. Helpless rage at Bart threatened to engulf him as he pushed himself back.

“ _ No _ . You don’t seem to understand.  _ You are not expendable _ ,” Jaime snarled.

Bart blew out a breath of air. “I’m alive. If I let that magic hit you, would we have been able to say the same thing about you?”

“It doesn’t matter! Don’t ever trade your life for mine, you have to promise me. Never again.”

“I can’t do that.”

Some part of Jaime that lays very deep within himself rages. Some animalistic instinct made him stand to his full height, extend his shoulders, try to intimidate.

“You have to!”

“No.” Bart was now glaring defiantly at Jaime.

“Please.” Jaime’s voice was softer now. “Your life is worth billions of mine.”

Bart laughing a dark and rasping laugh was not how Jaime expected him to respond.“Yeah, right. That’s why you’ve been avoiding me and requested a partner change.”

“I promise it’s not what you think,” Jaime pleaded.

“Oh, yeah? You wanna know what I think? I think that after the Reach invasion was stopped, you no longer needed me. You no longer needed insurance that being a supervillain would be in your future.”

Jaime wrung a frustrated hand through his hair. “That’s not it at all! Dios mío, what the hell is actually the matter with you? How could you possibly not know? I distanced myself from you because I felt so guilty! When I was on mode I saw what your future might have looked like, what I might have done. What I  _ did  _ do in your timeline. How could I make you look at me? I couldn’t put you through that.”

“What, so you made me separate from my best friend? News for you asshat: you aren’t him. If you were him do you think I would fall in love with…” Bart stopped abruptly.

The shock of the words that came out of Bart’s mouth settled into Jaime’s bones. Jaime has battled aliens, assassins, has friends across the world, been to space but none of these prepared him for this. He stared blankly at Bart, unsure if this was real.

“Well, shit.” Bart was immediately pushing off the covers. It looked like he was about to do what he does best: run. That’s all it took for Jaime to lunge at him.

“Bart, stop moving. Your healing factor worked like a charm but you still have to be careful.” Blue armor ran down his arms, helping to keep Bart in the hospital bed. “Idiota, just hold on a few minutes, Jesus.”

“You hate mayonnaise but you don’t tell your family because they use it so much in cooking and you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Your favorite place is the desert at night because of how still it is and how still you don’t have to be. Sometimes you go running somewhere cold just so you can play in the snow. Your favorite food is pancakes. Around children, you somehow manage to be the most patient person on this planet. Reality television is your guilty pleasure because it is fake enough to not be boring and real enough to be interesting. You’re a cat person. True to your name, you are the most impulsive person on this planet and Dios bueno I love you so much. I love everything I know about you, everything I will know about you, and everything I will never know about you. I love everything I will forget about you and everything I remember. So you know what? Your life is worth way more than mine, especially to me.”

Bart, who forgave him for the apocalypse, who makes him laugh, who steals his food, who charms his mother, who is currently crying, who is the best thing in Jaime’s life, pulls Jaime into a kiss. 

It’s nothing deep or passionate but it’s loving and intimate. Jaime wishes that he could stay in this moment forever but he needs to make sure Bart got the message. 

“Do you finally get it?”

Bart placed a gloveless hand on a high cheekbone, reveling in the skin on skin contact. “Yeah. I think I might.”

Khaji Da purrs happily.

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually the first fic I have ever done! If you find any mistakes don't hesitate to nerf me with them. I am always looking to do better!
> 
> Love any feedback!


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